Broken Bonds
by IronChainDragon
Summary: After Bright Sun, Jack and Yusei pull some strings to get Crow there with them. The Enforcers are back, but not under favorable circumstances. For they are still being targeted, while Sunny deals with the fact that it can never be the same as she remembers. Part two in a series.


Daichi: Guess who got Stardust Accelerator!

Verity: We needed to travel around the world for it. I'm surprised it's in English.

Tsukaimon: We don't own anything but Sunny, Sammy, a handful of cards to be mentioned later, and any characters not recognized from the source material.

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Crow Hogan prided himself on many things, going so far as to call himself the best thief in the Satellite. When his old friends had heard it, they asked how he kept getting caught. His response was that they hadn't caught him for everything. Still, this was a new one.

"What is it? I swear, I haven't done anything! I just got out from last time!" It was true. He had been let out three days ago, way too soon for a heist. If he wasn't careful with it, they might decide to stop letting him out. He couldn't subject the kids to that.

The officer standing in his doorway looked away.

"I was told to bring you with me to the city. Apparently, Jack Atlas and Yusei Fudo requested your presence."

It took a few minutes for it to sink in. Until then, the carrot-top rather resembled a gaping fish.

12211221

In a hospital in Neo Domino City, a girl with purple hair turned to her old rival.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice, Jack."

"You should have come to me as soon as you could. You might have known him the longest out of all of us, but Kalin is my friend, too."

"I know. I messed up, I should have gathered all of us sooner. Might have stopped this." The two of them turned to the bed where their old leader was sleeping. Yusei had stepped out for something to eat, and Leo and Luna were sleeping in a chair.

"When will Crow get here, anyway?"

"We had to pull quite a few strings, some of which involved knowing the Rose Witches through you, but he should be here tonight."

"Do I want to know?"

"He may have threatened them with the Arcadia Gang, along with anyone else we could gather." Sunny hadn't noticed Yusei come in, but he was standing right next to them. Immediately, she caught the candy bar he threw to her.

"Jack! You don't threaten government officials! What will Carly think?" She knew she'd struck gold when he looked away.

"That doesn't matter. Either way, she's not here, she's trying to infiltrate the Arcadia Movement."

"What!? Jack, we kept her away from there for a reason! Sayer has no qualms about killing! Okita's friend Toby died during a private session with him! If she went to Headquarters, there's a chance we'll never see her again."

"Look, let's not talk about death right now. Given the circumstances..." They fell silent, acutely aware of the monitors around them.

"You're right, this is depressing. Let's think about happier things. Like the fact that, by this time tomorrow, we'll all be together again."

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In another room, Akiza Izinski turned to the nurse.

"I probably should have warned you, but my sister gets weird on painkillers." Next to them, Sammy was babbling nonsense to her Summoned Kuriboh, her teddy propped up next to her. Random Sparks flickered around, burning Liquid when he tried getting closer. Thankfully for him, Okita was nearby with a Rain of Mercy.

"This can't get much worse."

" **In other news, the Arcadia Movement Headquarters, subject to several investigations in the aftermath of the Fortune Cup, appears to be collapsing. We will attempt to locate former members for an explanation..."**

They were wrong. It could get much, much worse.

122121

In his life, Crow had never imagined this situation. If he joked about being in this kind of place, it was as an injured Turbo Duelist. Now, as he was being led along, he still had no clue what he was doing there. The first face he recognized was one he never thought he'd see again.

"Crow!" The team's connection with Duel Spirits, insect keeper, and sweet tooth Sunshine Akarui was grinning like a beam of her name, despite the circumstances and the fact she had a bad cut on her cheek that was just beginning to scar over.

"Sunny? Where have you been?"

"I swear, every time I see someone, that's the first reaction I get! It's not my fault I was kidnapped."

"Wait, what?"

"It's a long story. I'll explain, as it leads into the reason you're here."

"Yeah, knowing that would be nice."

"Now, I don't know all of it myself, but it started after I left your house..."

211221

Sunny had told the story, and knew that Crow was still dealing with it. In fact, he seemed to be in shock.

 _'Well, what did you expect?'_

 _'To be honest, this was the worst case scenario.'_ It was surprising how fast the psychic vanished from her mind upon being told that.

 _'Lifetrancer?'_

 _'I think you broke her.'_ Right, the Duel Spirit hadn't had time to adjust to the insanity of the Spirit Duelist's friends.

"Hey, Crow, you alive? Come on, this will be great! The old team, back together again! Did you ever think this could happen?"

"N-no, not really. To be honest, I was keeping myself occupied with other things."

"I suppose. It did seem like an impossible dream. Still, I suppose even the most unlikely of dreams can come true."

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In another section of the city, there was a young woman with a rather unlikely dream. Picking a card out of her pocket, she stared at it wistfully.

"Are you the Alchemical Maiden?" Turning around, she couldn't see the voice's owner. "I hear you wish to save up money to resume your career."

She nodded, unsure of whether to trust the voice or not.

"Well, I could help you. You just need to do one thing for me."

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Sunny sat down next to the chair where Leo and Luna were asleep, watching his reunion with Jack and Yusei. Which was basically his telling Yusei how much everyone missed him and berating Jack. She'd missed this.

"Just like old times."

"Sunny, I hope you realize, even after Kalin wakes up, things can never go back to how they were."

"I know, Jack. Just let me pretend, just this once."

2112212112

Daichi: So, next time, Kalin wakes up, and everyone begins to sort things out as best they can.


End file.
